| 2009/2010 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | VS |  |
| 11-12 | 19-7 | |
| December 18, 2009 | ||
| Quicken Loans Arena | ||
| 8:00 PM et | ||
| Radio - WTAM 1100 / TV - FSOhio HD; ESPN | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Brandon Jennings | PG | Mo Williams |
| Carlos Delfino | SG | Anthony Parker |
| Luc Mbah a Moute | SF | LeBron James |
| Ersan Ilyasova | PF | J.J. Hickson |
| Andrew Bogut | C | Shaquille O'Neal |
Have the Cavaliers finally figured it out? LeBron James thinks so. James said after the Cavaliers beat Philadelphia the other night that the Wine and Gold now knwo the identity of the team an who they want and need to be. If he's right, that is scary news for the rest of the NBA - the Cavs managed to go 19-7 having no idea who they were.
Tonight is a visit from Milwaukee, surely looking for a bit of revenge. A few weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, the Bucks scored the first 11 points of the game before the Cavaliers went on a historic run - 30-2 at one point - and blew out the Bucks on their home floor.
Injury news - The Cavaliers are healthy
If you haven't already, FOLLOW ME on Twitter and become a fan of FTS on FACEBOOK!
Bucks vs Cavaliers coverage; Bucks vs Cavaliers preview; Brew Hoop
Some more Game Notes after the Jump -- >
- With Wednesday's 108-101 victory over the 76ers on Wednesday, Cleveland has gone 16-4 (.800) in their last 20 games. TheCavaliers have defeated the 76ers in seven of the last eight games and the last six contests in Philadelphia. This is now the team'slongest active road win streak against any opponent. LeBron James had 36 points, six rebounds and seven assists in the victoryover Philadelphia. It was the tenth straight game that James has had at least 10 points, five rebounds, and five assists, which James now has four such streaks of 10+ games with those marks since entering the NBA in 2003-2004. There has been only oneother double-digit streak in the entire league over that span, 11 games by Kevin Garnett in 2004. (Elias)
- Cleveland has won eight consecutive games at The Q. This streak is the third longest home winning streak in the NBA (Phoenix -18, L.A. Lakers - 10) and at 10-2, .833, the Cavaliers home record is 5th best in the NBA. In those eight games, the team has averaged 105.0 ppg on .533 shooting while opponents have only scored 95.3 ppg on .444 shooting. Since the 2005-06 season, the Cavaliers are 137-39 (.778) at home and only the Dallas Mavericks at 145-31 (.824) have a better home record in that span.
- During the Cavs eight-game winning streak at The Q, James has averaged 25.0 points on .517 shooting, 6.3 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game to go along with. The Cavs are now 10-3 (.769) this season when James scores at least 30 points and over his last six games, he is averaging 34.3 points on .493 shooting, 7.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.8 steals and 1.0 block. James has averaged 30.3ppg against the Bucks in his career, which is the most against any NBA team. (STATS, Inc.)
- The Cavaliers will face the Bucks for the second time this month and have defeated their division foe three straight times at TheQ, five consecutive times and 13 of the last 16 meetings, which is the most by any Bucks opponent in the last four years. In the first matchup on Dec. 6 in Milwaukee, Delonte West had his best game of the season, scoring a season-high 21 points on 6-9 (.667) shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists. The team held Milwaukee to an opponent season-low of 35-93 (.376)shooting and went on a 29-0 run against which lasted more than 11 minutes during the game. It remains the largest streak ofone team holding another scoreless in the last 10 NBA seasons.
- Mo Williams scored 12 points and distributed four assists against Philadelphia. With 15 points scored, Williams will notch his 6,000th career point. He currently stands at 5,985 points with 1,873 of those points coming as a Cavalier.
- Anderson Varejao had 11 points to lead the Cavs bench and eight rebounds while Daniel Gibson added nine points on 3-3 shootingfrom behind the arc. Cleveland has now received at least 30 points from their bench in seven of the last 10 games as the bench is averaging 27.2 ppg and 16.3 rebounds, which is +2.1 ppg ahead of the mark of 25.1 ppg and + 2.9 rebounds above 13.4 rpglast season. Cleveland has now received at least 30 points from their bench in eight of the last 10 games.
- The Cavaliers defensive triangle combines to be one of the best in the league. Cleveland ranks 4th in defensive points allowed at 94.4ppg, ranks 2nd in overall defensive field goal percentage at .435 and ranks 7th in defensive three-point field goal percentage at .328.The Cavaliers have held three consecutive opponents under .300 shooting from behind the arc (Oklahoma City .250, New Jersey .278 and Philadelphia at .294).
- While being one of the NBA's best defensive teams, Cleveland also ranks 4th in the NBA in overall field goal percentage at .480while ranking 2nd in three-point field goal percentage at .425 (Phoenix - .435). When the Cavaliers shoot at least .420 from thebehind the arc, the team is 12-0 on the season. (STATS, Inc.)
- The team is 9-0 this season when they shoot .500 or better from the field and 15-1 (.938) when scoring at least 100 points. At 29.1ppg in the opening period are the league's highest scoring team in the first quarter while shooting .563 from the field, whichalso ranks 1st. The team has won a league-high 20 out of 26 overall first quarters by a league-best average margin of +4.4,. TheCavaliers have topped the 30-point first quarter plateau in 14 games this season and scored at least 60 points in the six first halves this season, which has led to Cleveland being 16-2 (.889) when tied or leading at halftime this season.